Sailing Canoes from Papua New Guinea

The guys from the proa-file have brought up a great video, showing sailing canoes in Papua New Guinea, the "Sailaus".

These robust, shunting canoes, from the Island of Panaete, in PNG, come with an interesting rig. Despite being rather narrow, the canoes carry a surprising amount of canvas, spread by a short mast and a dipping lug. And the sails display a beautyful pattern of colors, which makes it easy to identify the racing teams.

The ama is attached by a rather short "platform of beams". It provides enough rightening moment, due to its weight. It is a large, solid log. Look at its interesting "cylindric-banana-shape" at around 1:25 seconds into the video.

It is also entertaining to watch the crew work their boat. It seems they have an active race tradition going on. One can count at least 6 different canoes, each with a crew of 3 to 6, enthousiastic sailors on board.